In Faith we trust, but Fight we shall

So, why do people fight? Why do nations rage wars? What is that basic instinct that makes people move against eachother? There are a many reasons, some say power, some say resources but there is one thing that has been an underlying reason since the time immemorial and that is ”faith.” a belief in one common thing or experience.

Perhaps, the initiation started with a good intention – to find the core divine source. To find God. So, what went wrong? The answers are not hidden in complex anthropological research. Infact, the hindu mythologies have been explaining the phenomenon through numerous stories, which we have been hearing, reading and watching on movies since our birth. Onto these thoughts, one of my favourite story and characters from it have been none other than Ravan and Ram.

Since most of us know the story, I shall cut it short to just the basics. Ram was the good guy with a pretty wife. Ravan was the bad guy, who happened to get smritten by Sita’s charm and abducted her. Te rest of the story is how Ram gathers support to bring his wife back and kill Ravan. Well! Classic romance. No denial there.

However, if we probe the story into the current topic of faith, then we would need to know about Ravan much before his hideous act. Who was Ravan? Was he always a bad guy? Or is he a good apple that went bad?

Apparently, the scriptures say that Ravan was a very disciplined, devotee of Shiva. A very spiritual guy and infact a well mannered gentlemen. Well! His wife would have vouched for that. On the other side of the continent, was our hero-the good guy Ram. Another well mannered, disciplined, mamma’s boy, who was equally spiritual in his thoughts and deeds. Infact, it is his deeds that rose him to the level of God. Ram was as devoted, disciplined man as Ravan is. Infact, there are argumnts that Ravan was much more talented than Ram himself.

So, If both these men were equals in all aspects, with the core spiritual divinity driving their actions, then why did Ravan turn out ot be a bad guy? Where did he drift or rather what made him drift? If we probe the story further, we would realize that it was Ravan’s arrogance that got him into the soup.

He misused his intelligence and the ego that got him into this entire spree of over confidence, that he moved away from his own core spiritual self. Yeah!! There are external influencing factors, but the fact remains, that all his spiritual experience and intellect was misused and hence the doomsway.

Perhaps, it is the same thing that has been repeating to the civilizations and ethnic groups across time and space. We start with a good intention, certain spiritual experiences helps us evolve, the knowledge empowers us, but then sooner or later, the influences and senses creep in and we become prey to them. We start misuing the expeirnce and knowledge to our own materialistic benefits. So, my question here is, when do we know that point where a very good intention of ours is turning bad? What guides us to be aware of that point when a ripe fruit is turning to rot?